A small but noteworthy update to Apple’s Find My iPhone software has just surfaced on iTunes. The iPhone and iPad app which lets you locate stolen or misplaced devices on a world map has gained ability to provide driving directions to your lost gear. This capability requires the new Find My iPhone app version 2.0.1 or later and iOS 6 or later. Apple has also enabled another tweak where Play Sound, Lost Mode and Erase buttons appear separately from the main map view. Unfortunately, the repugnant stitched leather theme is still all over the app…

Apple’s Find My iPhone pitch:

If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device, open it, and sign in with your Apple ID.

Find My iPhone will help you locate your missing device on a map, play a sound, display a message, remotely lock your device, or erase all the data on it.

The Lost mode is particularly useful:

If the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you want to locate is running iOS 6, Find My iPhone also includes Lost Mode. Lost Mode locks your missing device with a 4-digit passcode and can display a contact phone number right on the lock screen. And while in Lost Mode, your device will keep track of where it has been and display its recent location history when you check in with the Find My iPhone app.

There’s also a nice web interface at icloud.com to locate your devices, issue remote wipes, messages and more using any computer capable of running a standards-compliant web browser like Chrome and Safari.

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Skeuomorphism or not, the app – a free universal binary download on the App Store – saved me a ton of time on numerous occasions..

I remember this one time when I discovered upon arriving home that my iPhone was no longer in my pocket.

Much to my horror, calling my number yielded no result because “the number you have dialed couldn’t be reached”.

I hear the new Find My iPhone has also a “bitch I’m coming to get you” button.